


Exercise For Beginners

by ismellitblue



Category: Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Angst, Families of Choice, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Shenanigans, Team as Family, working out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22436983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: Cyborg decides the Doom Patrol  needs to work out  as a team, it's a disaster until  somehow it's not.
Relationships: Crazy Jane & Victor Stone, Rita Farr & Larry Trainor, Victor Stone & Larry Trainor, Victor Stone & Rita Farr, Victor Stone And Cliff Steele
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	Exercise For Beginners

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Doom Patrol.

The problem with the team(one of the many),Vic decided one night, was their inactivity.All of them just sat around all day with Larry plying them with food, and Rita sneaking in as much liquor as she could.

If they were on their way to being better people, then they needed to start working out.Immortal or not,there was no excuse to not be in shape.

***

To make sure to catch them all at once, he sprung his trap right towards the end of breakfast.

“Alright team, I’ve come up with something we can do together,”  
“Here we go,”He ignored Jane’s less than enthusiastic tone,smirking when Rita swatted her feet off the table.

“We need to start working out together,”Cliff stood“That’s it-I’m out,”

Vic planted a foot on his metal boot,pinning him to the spot.

“I knew you were going to say that, that’s why I have graphs and tables showing all our stats-”He ignored Larry’s sigh and Rita knocking back vodka like it was water.

Two hours later,Vic rounded up his presentation-he’d really outdone himself on that one-the chart curves were so smooth,even Grid was gushing.

“So are you guys in?”  
“If we say yes,will you hold back on the graphs?”Rita asked,nudging Larry awake.

“Since we’ll be meeting daily to work out, we won’t need prolonged group sessions, I’ll just send each of you your progress reports on the phones I got you, all you’ll have to do is check individually and work on your short comings,”

“Alone?”He didn’t like how Larry’s normally bland tone sounded almost hopeful at that, but his idea hadn’t been shot down immediately, so he went with it.

“Sure, you can all check your reports when your alone,”Cyborg got the feeling that none of them would be checking their reports, but he knew how tempting graphs could be-they wouldn’t be able to resist for long.

Day 1

Weightlifting was ruled out because Vic,Cliff and Hammerhead had an unfair advantage.Rita’s skills at yoga didn’t give anyone a chance,so that left only one thing…running.

The stretches were fine, and everyone graciously ignored the pops and groans coming from Larry’s side.

When they took off,everything was fine for the first minute.Then Rita tripped over a log and blobbed, elongating and puffing up as she fell into a trench.Cliff unable to lift his legs high enough fell right on top of her and was swallowed by folds of skin.Jane seeing the display, paused to point and laugh, and Vic who’d had his head down accidentally barreled into her, upon contact Lucy Fugue came to the surface, and Vic turned tail and ran in the opposite direction,lightning dancing at his heels.Larry in an effort to avoid all this,called in reinforcements.

“Pal, a little help here,”The spirit showed up immediately, and flew off with Larry’s unconscious form.He was later found clinging to a tree branch with a very angry flock of birds pecking away at him.

Day 2

“Yesterday didn’t go according to plan, so today we’re trying a different approach,’He caught sight of Rita drinking something that was most definitely not water from her bottle, and pointed at her.

“Alright, today we’re doing individual runs to determine our stamina levels,Rita,you go first,”She took one more deliberate gulp before taking her position,then she took off.

The only thing slower than Rita’s driving was Rita’s running.They waited fifteen minutes for her to get to the end of the lap, and then another fifteen for her to come back.

“Grandma,you’re such an inspiration-such speed at your age!,”

“Oh,can it Jane!I dare you to do better,”And without even waiting for the go ahead,Jane took off.She was faster than Rita-much faster-but she never made it to the finish line.Half way there,the air around her rippled, and when she turned Flit gave them a cheeky wave and in a blink she was gone.

“This counts as a win,”Rita said sauce dripping down her cheeks as she enjoyed her post exercise snack(if you could call ribs that).

With Jane gone,the only exercise Cliff got was to run over to the spot where she’d disappeared and yell her name really loudly.Realizing she wasn’t coming back,he then made his way inside,swearing all the way, and fooling absolutely no one in trying to hide his worry.

Next came Larry,the spirit took off,planting him face first in the dirt,and Vic’s exercise for the day was carrying Larry’s unconscious form all the way to the living room.

Day 3

It rained heavily on the third day, and they all just sat around pretending to be upset by the turn of events.

Day 4

Vic went to wake Larry and heard shouting coming from his room-he didn’t bother knocking.He found Cliff looking at a child’s toy,his robot eyes unblinking and he quietly shut the door.The personality that greeted him when he went to get Jane spit acid that melted the door frame and Vic quickly found somewhere else to be.He could see bits of Rita oozing beneath her door,so he turned back without bothering her.When he made it to the bottom of the stairs,intent on going on his own run,,,his dad called.He had Grid ignore the call until his dad gave up, and after listening to the message, he found he didn’t want to do anything anymore, he didn’t even bother going back to his room.

He spent the day curled up on the carpet, listening to the sounds of the other occupants of the house fall apart too.

Day 5

The rain was back, and no one even bothered to pretend to be upset.Instead they used the rain to cover their cries, and when they bumped into each other in the hallways, no one said anything.

Day 6

“Victor Stone!If you don’t get up right this instant-”He unpluggled his charging system, pausing for a bit to allow Grid to store away the excess power.

“I’m up,I’m…”He let out a huge yawn before going to open the door

“…up?”He blinked several times, but the image in front of him stayed the same.

All of them were assembled, wearing matching training oufits.

“Weren’t you the one who said we needed to exercise more?Why are you still asleep?Let’s get to it,”A red and white track suit was thrown at him.

It was as much of a disaster as the first few days had been, but they were outside doing something and that made all the difference.

Day 7

On the seventh day,all of them sat down and agreed that running wasn’t working for them.

“I blob everytime I trip on stuff,”Rita said

“Keeg wants me to do something they can enjoy too,”  
“Who’s Keeg,”Jane asked,and Larry shrugged looking a bit ashamed.

“The negative spirit, and they enjoy flying”There was a beat of silence,everyone processing the fact that Larry and the spirit were finally on first name basis.

“Ok, we can definitely add that to the schedule,”

…Day 367(first anniversary of their exercise routine minus the two days early on, that no one talks about)

Jane shadow boxed as she moved, her feet butterfly light, behind her Cliff was taking slow steps, pulling on a huge truck behind him.Rita, dressed more for a picnic than working out was on a scooter,with Larry in a similar scooter matching her pace.Vic ran ahead of all of them,occasionally trading blows that never landed with Jane, and adding his bulk to the truck Cliff was pulling.

An hour later they made it to the end of the trail, and Larry instantly collapsed,Keeg taking his turn and flying over the trees,going far enough to touch the clouds.

After watching for a few seconds, they all got to work setting up for their meal.Taking the supplies from Cliff’s truck.They loaded out the buffet Larry had made, Jane got the table and chairs and Rita set the table while Vic and Cliff got Larry’s unconscious form seated.

By the time Keeg returned and Larry woke up, the sun was setting, and they all took a moment to enjoy it, no one said a word.

“You know Vic, I never thought I’d say this, but the whole exercising as a family thing is totally worth it,”No one corrected Cliff on his use of the word ‘family’, after all the things they’d been through together, it would take an idiot not to recognize that, that was exactly what they’d become.

It felt good to belong.


End file.
